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The Saulosian Campaign (War)
History Prelude Invasion Massacre at Concerto Bombardment at Eternal Sonata Siege of Guardia A UNSC scientific outpost, Guardia was a mostly oceanic world that was primarily uninhabited. The few cities on the world were scientific stations, some for research of the planet's vast indigenous and introduced marine wildlife, and others for technological development. In the latter case, the planet represented an important investment by the UNSC. The Saulosian invasion, therefore, was a devastating blow to the UNSc. Unlike other attacks early in the war where the Saulosians destroyed everything they encountered to inspire fear, this attack was a strike in the name of science. The Saulosians intended to take the UNSC's technology and learn precisely how advanced they were. However, during the initial attack on Guardia, the scientists fled to underwater facilities, and the Saulosians were faced with a challenge. Though the Saulosians had fought enemies on water-dominant worlds before, but never had they truly created water-based war material, always using orbital bombardment to force the foes from the sea. But now, they did not wish to harm the equipment, and were therefore forced to descend into the ocean-depth facilities mostly unprepared. Dispatching numerous teams of Drakels initially, these units managed to infiltrate the facilities through much difficulty, reaching the station while the Humans were distracted by a Saulosian submersible "attacking" the station. Once inside, the Drakels were soon detected and came under fire, but they managed to eliminate the heavy resistance and clear a path for Saulosian reinforcements and science teams to enter the base and begin their work at analyzing. However, the Humans were not so helpless nor so stupid as the force had at first believed. After this first base was infiltrated, the Humans activated a self-destruct fail-safe on the base and fled to a second base, destroying the first base, all its contents, and all the Saulosians and Drakels inside. However, at the second base, the Drakel were ready: they immediately went to disarm the explosives, and then as the Humans fled, they were attacked by the Saulosian's secret weapon; numerous specimens of Directorate Bioweapon 01AZ, later named "Leviathans" by the UNSC. Two of the Leviathans proceeded to not only destroy the UNSC submersibles they were using to flee with, but they continued to guard the waters and allowed the Saulosians to continue their work unafraid of sabotage or fleeing. Guardia fell within three hours of the Leviathan's appearance, with multiple stations being systematically and simultaneously raided, cleaned of technology, and then destroyed. The Saulosians were then able to examine the technology used by the UNSC, and determine ways to counteract it even more effectively. Aggressive Negotiations After several tense battles, the UNSC-Sangheili Alliance attempted to contact the Saulosian Directorate and discover what their foes wanted, not wanting to fight another Great War if they could avoid it. In a reconciliatory gesture, they sent a small ship into Saulosian territory broadcasting a message of peace in all known languages, as well as in what they hoped was the Saulosian language - with so little contact with the Saulosians, and so few survivors, it was difficult to translate anything properly so soon and quickly. Despite their best attempts, the message is presumed to have failed - the UNSC vessel was captured, most of its crew murdered, and the remainder tortured and examined by the Saulosian scientists. Three weeks later the Saulosians replied to the Alliance's message of peace in a highly garbled mixture of Sangheili and English, which was translated with great difficulty after two days: "You are the Children of the Destroyers, Haters of Life, and therefore must be punished". This message would serve to confuse and confound the UNSC-Sangheili Alliance for much of the war, until its meaning was revealed in the latter half by SPARTAN-II Justin-057. Battle of Kotov The battle of Kotov was the UNSC's first planned counterattack against the Saulosians. After assembling a battlegroup at the outer colony of Kotov, the UNSC planned to assault a Saulosian fleet amassed at the ruined colony of Eternal Sonata. However, before the fleet was fully organized, the Saulosians swept down on them and decimated the unprepared humans in a vicious space and ground campaign. By the end of the battle, half the fleet had been destroyed, and Kotov was another casualty of the war. Rediscovering Justin